Upcoming Events

Handy, a mobile app that offers consumers cleaning services on-demand, is launching on Android today and issuing an erie update to its iOS version — real-time tracking of service professionals.

At 15 minutes prior to your booked appointment, a push notification will alert you that the cleaning professional is on his or her way. A map pops up in-app, showing your Handy professional in transit to your home. That person is tracked from 15 minutes before the job, until it’s complete.

The new feature feels necessarily invasive. The tracking functionality, seemingly aimed at especially paranoid consumers, essentially ensures that a cleaning professional is at your home at the agreed upon time working for the contracted amount of time. It nearly eliminates a need for trust, which is traditionally a component of cleaning services — or any service where a professional is entering your home while you’re not there. If the conceit of this new feature is to hack the need for trust, it seems like a short ride before Handy starts offering live-streaming of your cleaning professionals service. And some people already do have Dropcams and other home surveillance devices, but it’s a slippery slope for the privacy-concerned when companies start surveilling employees.